


it’s like destiny if it’s you

by orphan_account



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Dib is a clone AU, Dib is in his mid twenties stop clutching your pearls, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Slow Burn, Zim does not know this gender you are speaking of, genderfluid Dib and Gaz
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-01 22:29:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20425787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: After disappearing from his life for thirteen years, Zim is back and Dib couldn’t be more confused as to what, exactly, his life is supposed to be as he finds himself in the middle of a war between his head and his heart.Therapy didn’t prepare him for this.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was trying to work on the next part of _Kaleidoscope_ and that self indulgent ZADR smut I started I swear, but this. This couldn’t help itself but be pushed in front.
> 
> Enjoy.

After the Florpus, things grew quiet.

Too quiet some would say.

Humanity got on with life, the whole incident being chalked up as mass hallucinations caused by the Membracelet’s strange addition. Cities were rebuilt, lives were put back together, and perhaps the one thing to come out of it was, indeed, lasting peace. Though considered mass hallucination, the threat of a swirling vortex of doom and the knowledge of alien life was enough to cause humanity to cease its petty arguments with each other, and slowly wars and aggrievances stopped altogether.

In a way, Professor Membrane attained the peace that he wanted to bring to the world that Peace Day.

Zim vanished. Completely. One day his home base just...wasn’t there. Dib walked past the block several times the week following the Florpus, but to no avail. No single trace was left of the alien that had plagued his life for the last two years.

And so Dib, slowly but surely, let things go.

Even if he was the only one (well, aside from Gaz) who knew and understood that the Florpus had actually happened, he found himself strangely content with it. It was like his need to be acknowledged had disappeared the moment his father had said he was always proud of him.

It was as though the moment Zim had disappeared from the planet, Dib found himself able to walk forward.

He stopped being called weird and crazy by his peers, and even though he got into arguments about whether or not the Florpus had happened, people were content to take his word for it and let him have his opinion. Membrane stopped calling him insane and would often ask his son for his input on the latest tech from the Labs, and even his relationship with Gaz healed and went from aggressor and victim to something of a siblinghood.

Slowly, Dib forgot all about the Florpus and Zim. The scars were still there in the earth, cracks that would never heal. The modified Membracelet was replaced with the actual tech that had meant to be released that night, the screaming alien globs gone. The only hint that there had once been an alien in the cul-de-sac down the street was Clembrane, but he was basically harmless.

Dib huffed out a sigh as he closed his front door with a click and shouldered his backpack, standing and looking out at the street. In a way, not much had changed, but he had. He was taller, lankier than he ever had been as a kid, but that was what came with growing up, though his dress sense was still as dark as it ever was. Gone was the investigator coat that he had obsessively worn as a pre-teen, replaced with a black flannel that he had rolled up to his elbows, black shirt with a ghost motif and jeans and boots. As soon as he was able to, his ears had been pierced (he was most definitely proud of his spacer collection) and indulging Gaz by letting her paint his nails revealed that he liked that, the current polish a dark purple-black that sparkled in the right light.

Dib discovered very early on that he needed his own space, and so had moved out of the house that he’d spent much of his childhood in when ready. He hadn’t realised until he’d left the amount of trauma that he had endured there, whether intended or not, and so the apartment was a release. He didn’t need a roommate since his dad had bought the place for him at his own insistence, but he liked renting out the couch to travellers, and his apartment was close to the roof of the building, where he kept his telescope for clear nights. 

At twenty-five he was already interning at Membrane Labs on his spare nights, doing his university courses online during the day, and it was there that he was heading to tonight. Looking at his watch, Dib realised he’d have to hurry along if he was going to make it on time. Clicking his bike away from the storage rack and undoing its chain, he swung his leg over the seat and started off, peeling onto the street with a flick of his jacket.

The sky was already dark as he sped down the bike lane, leaning forward heavily on the bars. He felt a giddy sensation bubble up in his gut, giggling to himself before stopping at a red light. Dib drummed his fingers on the handlebars, and, just by chance, happened to look up in time to see...it.

A shooting star.

But...no. It was too close to the surface to even be considered one, and the trail was a bright red as though it was on fire.

It flashed in a way that caused his glasses to glare with the light, and the giddy sensation gave way to cold dread as a sweat broke out against his neck. Dib shook his head and concentrated on the light turning green, inhaling and exhaling softly.

That part of his life was over.

He was on his way to work.

Dad was expecting him to pick his own team tonight.

Tonight would affect his future.

The light turned from red to green, and despite the voice in his head screaming at him that he needed to go straight ahead, Dib turned down the street and headed off in the direction of the star, already mulling over what it could be.

\---

Dib arrived at the site at the same time he was supposed to be at the Labs, far from them on the outskirts of town. He skidded his bike to a stop and slung his backpack over the handles as he propped it up on the break, leaning it against a tree.

The smoke was, surprisingly, not alerting anyone else to the area, so Dib was on his own. He paused, closed his eyes and sighed. “Okay. You can still turn around and go back. Tell Dad that you fell asleep at the computer after finishing your essay. Get on with life.”

_He’s gone._

Dib’s fingers lifted away from his handlebars and he trekked through the rows of trees towards the crash site of whatever it was.

_Aliens_, whispered the traitorous voice in his head.

The ship was on fire, that much he could ascertain from his position at the edge of the clearing, his hand now pressed to the tree for stability, to remind himself of where he was. The bark clung to his sweaty palm, digging into his skin as he dug his nails in, feeling his stomach drop and twirl in his guts as he recognised the symbol on the side.

Irken.

The side door was open, a small robot rummaging around in the cockpit and pulling on the pilot. Dib dug his feet into the ground as he watched, almost impassively, as though waiting for his common sense to kick in, before he sprinted from his spot observing, climbing over the wreckage and hissing when the metal burned his palms.

_“C’mon, Master. You gotta wake up.”_

His heart thudded in his chest as he reached the door, his voice hoarse. “Here. Let me help.”

GIR’s head turned to look at him, the robot’s eyes red before they turned to the familiar blue. Despite his duties, the SIR unit had always been friendly. _“Mary! I found you!”_ He reached to shake the Irken in the cockpit. _“Master, look! I found Mary!”_

“Uh, it’s still Dib.” He didn’t even acknowledge the fact that he was talking to a robot. That was something that happened in the Labs every day, but this was something out of his therapy sessions. His fingers grasped around thin arms, grunting as he hauled the alien out of the cockpit and grabbed GIR under his arm, turning to jump away from the wreckage just as it exploded.

GIR made a giddy “WHEE” noise, throwing its hands(?) into the air as Dib tumbled to the ground with both in his hold. He let go of GIR and the little robot ran around to his other arm as he set the unconscious Zim on the ground, sitting back on his haunches and watching the spaceship burn.

Fuck.

Now what was he supposed to do?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter warnings include: wound cleaning and stitching
> 
> enjoy :)

Gaz undid the buckle keeping her helmet strapped to her head and slid off her motorbike, parking it in the spot next to Dib’s bicycle. Hefting the tote bag on the back over her shoulder, she looked up at her brother’s apartment building, blowing a bubble with the gum in her mouth. He’d called her in a panic, asking her to dig through the garage for some of his old tools and several towels that had long been thrown out of the bathroom, and while she had her suspicions, it was the concern that shifted around in her gut that had pulled her here.

Her heels clicked against the floor of the elevator as she tapped her foot impatiently, pulling her phone from her back pocket to flick through the messages. Several from her girlfriend and a missed call from Dad - Dib had asked her not to tell him, begged her even, and Gaz rubbed her temples with her free hand as the elevator dinged to announce the top floor. He was lucky that she’d decided to keep living in their childhood home, otherwise she’d be chewing him out for calling her at this hour.

Gaz slid her phone back after turning it on silent, stalking up to the door of her brother’s flat and ringing the bell. The door cracked open and she noticed the chain still across to the frame, placing her hand on her hip. “This had better be good, Dib,” she hissed, purple curls bouncing around her head as she leaned back. “I’m missing out on some serious making out.”

The chain clicked and Dib pulled the door back, gesturing for her to come in. “I promise I’ll make it up to you and Gretchen.”

“Good, cause you already owe me several times over.” She huffed and stepped over the threshold, shoving the bag at him and watching him dig through it with a bit of relief flooding his expression. Gaz took in her brother - he looked like he hadn’t been sleeping, something pink smeared across his cheek and she reached to rub her thumb against it as he winced, pulling back as she licked it. Blood. “Diiiiib. What’s going on?”

“Uh, there’s some pizza in the kitchen still, I think.” He pulled out the kit that he’d asked her for, opening it and looking it over before shutting it and leading her in. “If you’re hungry anyway.”

She reached up to tug at his hair, pulling harshly on the lightning bolt shape that was almost as long as their father’s. “The only thing I’m hungry for is answers. I know that kind of blood isn’t natural, especially that sugar content. What the hell is going on, Dib?”

Dib reached to bat her hand away from his hair and then dropped his hand to rub at his neck, sighing and gesturing. “See for yourself.”

Gaz turned to look, her eyes widening at the sight on the kitchen floor. Towels were laid out on the tiles, absorbing the blood already lost by the alien laying on them, and she felt her cheek twitch, palming her face when she couldn’t find the words. Irken, she knew that much, and some instinctive part of her told her just _which_ Irken it was. “What. Is. He. Doing. Here?” she bit out, highly tempted to stroll over and kick him with the toe of her boot.

“I don’t know,” her brother muttered, kneeling on the other side and hunching over the body, opening up his kit. “That’s why I asked you for this. It’s got better tools than I have here. I’ll be able to patch him up better.”

“Where’s that robot of his?”

“Asleep.” Dib shrugged at the look he got. “I insisted he recharge for a bit and he fell asleep in front of the TV. I’d work better without him hovering around me asking every five seconds if Zim was going to be okay anyway.”

Gaz pursed her lips and slid into one of the stools at the island bar, opening the pizza box on it. There were several slices still there, so she picked one and took a bite to calm her swirling stomach. “Why are you even saving him? After everything?”

Dib paused as his fingers wrapped around the medical wire, looking down at it and then casting his gaze to the unconscious alien on his kitchen floor. “I...I don’t know,” he admitted, snipping some off the roll and threading it through a needle. “It’s the right thing to do? Dad’s always going on about how Membrane Labs is supposed to help humanity, so...I guess I just wanted to...”

“He’s not human,” she pointed out, leaning her elbows on the bench as she watched, not even bothered by the needle going through pale green skin. “And this isn’t the Labs. We could just...I don’t know...dump the body.” The look she got was absolutely scathing. “Okay maybe not. Whatever. He’s your alien boyfriend.”

Dib stabbed himself with the needle when she said that, drawing his pricked thumb to his mouth and staring at her. “He’s not my boyfriend,” he snapped, resuming threading the wound closed. “He’s my enemy.”

“Sure.” Gaz paused as she picked up another slice of pizza. “What’ve you told Dad?”

“I, uh, I told him I wasn’t feeling well. End of season cold and all that.” Dib tied the medical thread off and started on another, coughing weakly for effect. “He...seemed to buy it?”

She groaned, rubbing her eyes. “Dib, that’s...incredibly stupid. Even for you.” He shrugged and resumed his needlework, ignoring the noises she was making behind him and the tapping of her cell phone. Cleaning the wounds and sewing them up, placing gauze across and wrapping bandages around it. Once or twice, Zim seemed to stir, but the feeble noises that came from his throat were nothing like his childhood enemy.

Dib finally sat back on his knees and wiped his forehead with the back of his wrist, streaking pink blood across it. “There. That’s all the outer wounds patched up.” He stood from his spot on the floor and leaned against the kitchen bench, wiping his hands on one of the spare towels that Gaz had brought him.

“Now what?” Her voice cut through his thoughts and made him jump, having been completely absorbed in his work and forgotten she was there. Gaz peeked at him from over her phone, the noises coming from it letting him know she was playing a game.

Dib tilted his head and looked down at the alien on his floor. Years ago he would have flung him at anyone who would listen, but he guessed he’d grown up. “Wait for him to wake up,” he suggested with a shrug before kneeling again to scoop Zim up into his arms, careful not to jostle him around much.

“God he looks like a baby,” Gaz said, phone dangling between her fingers as she leaned her head on her other palm, watching the way the Irken subconsciously pressed his face into Dib’s chest with a smirk on her face.

“Yeah. He’s smaller than I remember,” Dib confessed, turning around to go to the spare room. Gently depositing him next to GIR and attempting not to cause the robot to stir, he left the room, pulling the door closed with a soft click. Pulling his glasses from his face, Dib yawned as he made his way back to the kitchen, meeting his younger sister’s gaze. “What?”

“Go to sleep, nerd.” She threw something at him and Dib raised his hands to catch it, realising it was one of the spare towels that he hadn’t used yet. “I’ll clean things up and lock up.”

He sighed a bit in relief, rubbing his eyes. “Thanks, Ga...”

Gaz stood in front of him, pointing her finger at him accusingly and glaring at him with one eye. “But if this blows up in your face, I will not hesitate to drag your ass and throw you into the nearest volcano. Got that?”

Dib started at her before he let out a small laugh, replacing his glasses and shaking his head. “I think if that happens I’ll be wanting you to. Goodnight, Gaz.”

She huffed and watched him drag his feet to his bedroom, arms crossed, before she turned and looked at the mess on the floor as the sun peeked over the horizon out the window. “More like good morning,” she muttered as she began cleaning up his mess, and no less than half an hour later was on her way out the door with a slice of pizza in her hand for breakfast.

She talked harshly but...she did worry that Zim had caught him off guard again and would cause him more trouble than what he was worth. Her phone beeped and Gaz pulled it from her back pocket as she made her way to her bike.

“Hey, Gretch. Sorry for leaving like that...yeah, I’m always cleaning up after Dib’s messes I guess...”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zim wakes.

Dib rested his head on his palm and once again checked over Zim’s wounds, a stool pulled up to the spare bed and GIR on the other side, watching him as expectantly as a robot could on the mattress next to his master.

It had been three days since he’d found them, and in that time Zim had not stirred, even after Dib had cleaned and stitched and patched him up. He looked more like a patchwork doll than an Irken, though the medical string was beginning to dissolve under the bandages. Zim’s breathing had evened out on the second day, although he still tended to wheeze a little at night.

Dib had made up some excuse that he needed to pull a couple of all nighters to complete a surprise thesis by the end of the week, to get the time off from his internship at the Labs, and while the Professor had looked at him as though considering it, he’d relented. Gaz had called by to check on him and make sure he was getting sleep, keeping vigil for him while playing video games on his console with GIR while he did so.

Dib pulled back after curling the bandage around Zim’s arm, having replaced them with fresh ones so that it wouldn’t become infected and he sighed, pressing the palm of his hand to his face and rubbing the bridge of his nose under his glasses.

_“Mary? Is Master going to be alright?”_

“It’s hard to say at the moment, GIR,” he admitted, dragging his hand down to his chin as he leaned back on his other, legs sprawled lankily in front of him. He didn’t even bother trying to correct him anymore. “I don’t even know if human medication works on Irkens, or if I stabilised the wounds enough. I’m a scientist not a medic.”

Well, scientist in training but he digressed.

GIR sat back with a frown on his robotic face, a small whine whirring in his voice box and antennae drooping. _“Master told me not to bring him here, but I didn’t know what else to do.”_

Dib raised an eyebrow at that - over the past few days he’d tried to get the story out of the robot but GIR had been more interested in refamiliarising himself with Earth foods and cartoons. “What happened, GIR?”

_”Oh well, since Master did so terribly with the mission and sent them into that big swirly black thingy, the Tallest decided that he should be reencoded.”_

“Reencoded?” Dib felt a cold chill run up his spine, leaning his elbows on his knees now as he tilted forward, keeping his balance as well as he could on such a small stool. “What does that mean?”

GIR blinked slowly at him. _“What does what mean, Mary?”_

The human gave a grumble of frustration. “You said Zim was reencoded. What happens when Irkens are reencoded?”

There was a beat before GIR flopped back and rolled off the side of the bed, chirping out _“I don’t knoooooow it just sounds baaaad.”_

“Argh this is getting us nowhere.” Dib rubbed his cheeks and stood from his seat, throwing his hands up in frustration and kicking the bed a bit, ignoring the squeak from GIR on the other side as he peeked over the edge and the sudden shift of the mattress causing Zim to groan and roll onto his side in his coma. “I can’t fix what I can’t see. I don’t even know that much about Irken biology to begin with! I...” He stopped the middle of his rant to stare at the giant crack across Zim’s PAK, lowering his hands. “...Why didn’t I see that before?”

_“See what before?”_ GIR scooted around to Dib’s side and leaned against him, and Dib swore he saw a lightbulb go off over the SIR unit’s head. _”Oh yeah that. Yeah master’s PAK was damaged by...”_ He paused and then screeched _”I forget!”_, waving his tiny robot arms about.

“Ugh, GIR,” Dib began, at the same time as another voice joined in and he looked down and stared at the alien reaching for his head with a groan. “Keep it down, I’m trynna sleep here.” Zim’s voice slurred, much like it had when Dib had found him buried deep in nacho depression just before the Florpus incident.

_“Master, you’re awake!”_ GIR let out a cheer and nearly leapt at Zim before Dib reached out and grabbed him in mid air, pulling him back with as much strength as he could.

“H-hey, he’s still injured! You just can’t...”

“Dib-stink?” Zim squinted over his shoulder at him and then groaned, burying his hands into his antennae as he curled in on himself, tongue loose in his mouth and feeling like he’d eaten dust. “This is a horrible dream.” He rolled over onto his back and let out another, louder moan. “It’s not the least that I deserve I guess. So what’re you gunna do now? Drag me out all naked for the world to see?”

Dib lowered his arms from where he still held onto a squirming GIR, tucking him under his armpit and reaching to gently push Zim back down. “Dream? No, this...this isn’t a dream. I found you when your ship crashed and...”

“Yeaahhhh right.” Zim’s eyes closed and he lifted his non-injured arm to wave it impassively. “I’m back in the barracks dreamin’. Dib-stink isn’t tall anyway. Good going, brian.”

“I think you mean brain.” Dib lowered GIR to his lap when the SIR unit stopped struggling and eventually pouted up at him, keeping him pinned there by his hands. “Wow you...really do believe this is a dream?”

“What else is it?” he slurred, turning his head and opening his eyes to look at the human. Zim’s movements were sluggish even as Dib reached to push him back to the bed.

“Easy now. You’re still injured.” He leaned over the Irken an once again examined him, adjusting his glasses. “I did my best but I’m afraid Earth hasn’t made much in the way of medical advances since you left.”

“Youuuuu didn’t touuuuch my PAAAAAAK did you?” He grunted, shoving Dib’s exploring hand away and sitting up with a cough and a groan of pain. “Yoooouuu can’t toucccchhhh my PAKKKKK. ‘s sensitive an’ all.”

“I haven’t touched it at all.”

“Gooooooddddd.” Zim flopped back again against the pillows and blankets and towels that Dib had built up around him over the last few days to keep him in the one spot, palming his face. “‘s not serious anyway. The prison guards said so.”

Dib’s brows drew up until they comically reached his hairline. “Prison guards? Zim, were you on Moo-Ping 10?”

“Nah. Sssssomewhere much worse.” Zim moaned and placed his hands to the sides of his head as he rolled over. “Ziiiiiimmmm has a headacheee...”

“Here.” Dib picked up the glass of soda that he’d had there for himself and popped two aspirin from a packet, helping Zim sit up. “I don’t know how well human medication works for Irken biology but, it’s something.”

“Meh.” Zim’s long tongue poked out from his mouth, segmented and razor sharp as ever, flicking it over the palm held up to his face and pulling the pills in, before taking a gulp of soda as encouraged. “Blech. This is a...verryyyy realistic dreaaaam.”

“I told you, it’s not a dream.” Dib frowned before he lifted his head when he heard the doorbell ring. “Hang on, I’ll be right back. Keep quiet. GIR, keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn’t do anything strenuous.”

The little robot saluted and Dib stood from the stool, closing the door on the two alien lifeforms and trekking the way to the door. Peeking through the peephole, he reeled back when he saw his dad and ruffled up his hair, rubbing his eyes under his glasses until it looked like he had bags (which wasn’t hard because looking after Zim had him halfway there already). He unlatched the chain and pulled the door open, attempting to look sick. “Dad, what...” Dib coughed into his fist. “What’re you doing here?”

“I thought you could do with some soup,” Membrane said, looking concerned as he ever could behind those safety goggles. He held up his hands, showing Dib the container sealed with plastic and the lid in his hold. “Gaz said you were very sick. I was going to ask for a sample but she said not to bother you much.”

Dib felt his mouth water and he rubbed his heel over it, wiping away any stray drool. Living on pizza and takeaway wasn’t good, but it was all an average university student with a free internship could afford, even if he was the world famous scientist’s son. “Uh, thanks dad. There’s, uh, no pudding in it is there?”

Membrane chuckled, shaking his head. “Don’t worry, son. I made sure that, uh, Clembrane didn’t get anywhere near Foodio 5000 while he was making this.” Oh right, Foodio had been upgraded again. “Do you want me to heat it up for you?”

Dib paused before he heard the noises coming from the hallway and froze, a flush crossing his face as he snatched the container from his father. “No, no! That’s okay. I’m...um...I’m too sick for human contact so you’d, ah, better go before you’re infected.” He gave a weakly cough to exaggerate.

“Oh? Then what’s that noise I hear?” Membrane tilted his head and stepped in before Dib could stop him, though he found his son to be rather fast for someone so sick.

“Thheeee TV! Yeah, just a Netflix movie. Helps me forget about it.” Dib nearly tripled over his own feet as he walked backwards, pushing at Membrane’s shoulder. “You really should go...”

_“Maaaaryyyyy, where’d you goooo?”_

Membrane paused, then looked down at his child, brow creasing over his goggles before he sighed. “Alright. Just let me know if you need any more soup. You know Foodio only cooks with the best ingredients and it’s delicious and nutritious nature will help you fight this nasty cold you’re experiencing.”

Dib nodded and waved his father out the door before shutting it with a small sigh, leaning against the panel. “That was too close,” he said to himself, making a mental note to text Gaz and ask her what the hell. He walked into the kitchen and set the soup on the counter, then looked down the hall to where GIR was poking his head out of the spare bedroom, looking left and right for him.

Zim looked up as he reentered the room with two bowls of hot soup, looking worse than when he’d left. Dib sat down on his stool and placed his own bowl on the dressing table before holding out the spare to Zim. “Here. Try and stomach something at least. I don’t know how long it’s been since you last ate, and it’ll do you good.”

The Irken stared down at the soup groggily before his shoulders sagged and he let out a miserable “fine, whatever”. Dib scooted the stool closer and helped him sit up, swirling the spoon around in the bowl. He blew on it before offering the first spoonful, watching Zim sniff and open his mouth experimentally for it, his antennae perking forward. “See? Good soup.” Dib proceeded to feed the rest of the bowl to Zim, watching the colour slowly come back to his cheeks, his antennae remaining perked up. “Annnd done.” Dib pulled back and placed the bowl on the dressing table and reached for his own, taking a sip without using a spoon.

“That was...actually quite tasty.” Zim smacked his lips and relaxed back against the pillows, watching GIR paw around on the mattress before curling up into his side. His cheeks flushed pink as he huffed, closing his eyes. “I suppose the mighty Zim can be grateful for your help just this once, Dib-pig.”

“You were saying something about a prison.” Dib slowly lowered his bowl and tucked it under Zim’s, leaning back in his stool and watching as the alien looked away, his clawed hand going to GIR’s side. “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk, Zim, but I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong.”

“...I’m defective.” At the look on Dib’s face, Zim rolled his eyes and sneered at him. “It means my PAK is damaged and doesn’t work like it’s supposed to.” He looked down at GIR who looked back at him. “No matter how many times they reencoded me I’d always remember my original mission.”

“What does reencoding mean?”

Zim tilted his head to look at Dib with squinting eyes, pursing his lips together. “It means that our coding is rewired to fit a new purpose. We’re supposed to forget everything about our previous purpose, and the Control Brains suck our memories and programming away and give us a new one.”

Something about all that made Dib’s skin crawl, his fingers clenching in his pants. “And...you guys are just supposed to accept that?” There was a nod and Zim closed his eyes, keeping his hand on GIR as he laid his head back. “That’s just...that’s wrong! I can’t believe you just...”

“Dib.” Zim’s voice cut through Dib’s train of thought and he looked up, noticing the lack of an adjective attached to his name. “I’d like to sleep.” The tone was quiet, sullen, not at all like the alien that had plagued him in his youth.

“Oh. Oh yeah, sure.” Dib stood from his stool and reached to pick the bowls up, tucking them under his arm. “I’ll come in to check on you later. Your wounds still have a fair way to heal but they seem to be going good.”

Zim laughed softly. “Silly human. Irkens heal quickly. You should know this.”

The young man turned his head away as he curled his fingers around the bowls, digging his nails in. “The thing is, I don’t. I never really got the chance to examine you that way, and you were gone before I could. You...I...” Dib inhaled. “Things have changed since you were gone, Zim. I’ve forgotten more about you than I care to admit, and the Florpus is just regarded as mass hallucinations brought on by the changes you made to the Peace Day Membracelet.”

Zim glanced at him, taking him in. Now that his eyes weren’t seeing double, he could take in the changes. Dib was...taller than he remembered, and he squinted. “What happened to you, Dib-smelly?”

“I grew up.” It was said so simply, and if Dib believed that all of this was a hallucination as well, he’d wake up now, but it didn’t work that way. He straightened his shoulders, inclining his head to his childhood enemy as he turned to leave the room. “Goodnight, Zim.”

Zim stared after him, for once at a loss for words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there you go! Zim is awake and not feeling the greatest. Dib feels like shit. GIR is...GIR. I actually had to look up Netflix’s start up date and was surprised to find it was 1997 so, yeah, they had Netflix back then. It’s only been released to Australia very recently. Like, last four years recently. And this fic takes place circa 2014/15 (series events happened 2001ish) so...do with that information what you will.
> 
> anyway, stay tuned :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zim and Dib go on a little excursion to find a decent disguise for Zim. Discussions are had.

Dib woke the next morning to poking.

He wrinkled his nose as his eyes fluttered open, blinking and sight bleary due to his glasses being out of reach. The insistent poking continued, his brow furrowing as he reared back, then let out a scream as his blurry vision settled on green and red.

“Calm down, Dib-pig, it’s just me.”

It started coming back to him when the voice came from the blur. Going to work and then veering off to investigate a space ship crash. Finding GIR trying to drag Zim’s unconscious body out of the wreckage. Patching Zim up and keeping vigil even though he needed to work on assignments and things. Dib ran his hand through his hair, the lightning streak flicking back into place when he dropped it. “Don’t do that,” he snapped, reaching for his glasses and putting them on to see Zim being supported by GIR, the little robot close to his master. “I spent years in therapy trying to reason that you weren’t a hallucination. Cut me some slack.”

“Eh?” Zim raised a brow before shaking his head, wincing a bit when he twisted something. “Enough of that. It’s time for nourishment.”

“Yeah, Yeah. Okay.” Dib scooted out of his bed and stretched languidly, arms over his head as he yawned. Zim moved back to make room for him, tugging GIR with him as he glanced off to the side. Dib tugged his loose night shirt back down over his stomach as he reached to scratch his back, pulling up his alien face print boxers as well and motioning for them to follow him. He stooped down at the fridge when they got to the kitchen and opened the freezer door, pulling out a packet of waffles and dropping three into the toaster before he turned to Zim. “I, uh, I need to go back to work tonight. Dad can only make excuses for me for so long. Will you be fine on your own if I order pizza?”

“Psh. Zim has been on his own since before you were even a thought in your human unit’s brain.” He tilted his head high as GIR helped him up onto one of the stools, watching Dib put the waffles back and open the fridge for the milk. “But yes, I believe that will suffice.”

“Good, cause I don’t think Gaz is going to like you or me anymore if I ask her to babysit again.” Dib sniffed at the milk carton before he put it to his lips and drank straight from it, lowering it again to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand as he glanced over his shoulder at Zim. “Hitting her in the jaw wasn’t a cool move.”

“Then she should not have been hovering over Zim!” Zim tapped his fingers against the counter as he waited impatiently, ignoring the gross conduct that Dib was doing with the milk. He looked at the human out the corner of his eye, then watched the waffles pop up from the toaster. “What is this...therapy you mentioned?”

“Remember how when we were kids they sent me to the Crazy House for Boys?” Dib slipped one of the waffles into his mouth and put the other two on a plate and slid them Zim’s way across the kitchen island. He paused. “Or well, I guess when I was a kid. I don’t know how Irkens age.” Dib turned and got the whipped cream and maple syrup from the cupboard behind him and then turned back to face him.

Zim shrugged. “Eh, probably?” He then waved his hand nonchalantly and snatched the maple syrup up. “Age is an Earthling construct, but if you want actual numbers I believe I’m thirty Earth years old.”

“How old are you in Irken?” Dib asked, leaning against the bench on the other side of the kitchen and nibbling his waffle. “Well, I mean roughly, since age is an Earth construct.”

“A hundred and seventy.” Zim smirked as he watched Dib choke on his waffle and thump his chest when a piece went down the wrong way. He turned to stare at GIR who was looking at him with what could only be described as puppy dog eyes, and Zim sighed and pushed one of his waffles over. “Like I said, age means nothing to Irkens.”

“No kidding.” Dib coughed into his fist and rubbed the back of his neck. “But I guess since we’re not on Irk we might as well use human years. Anyway, therapy is where they...well, not exactly make you “normal” but it gives...you vent your frustrations and they analyse why you might be feeling that way.” He tapped his fingers against the bench behind him. “I spent so much time arguing with my therapist over your existence and the existence of the paranormal in general that I...I guess I slowly stopped believing in it.” Dib lifted his waffle and stared down at it before swallowing. “I guess I grew up like I said.”

Zim frowned a little before he shoved the last of his own breakfast into his mouth after poking it with his fork. “It sounds like they reencoded you,” he said almost softly, earning a bitter laugh that made him look up.

“I guess they did.” Dib rubbed the bridge of his nose under his glasses, hefting himself onto the bench. “I still don’t fully understand what reencoding means of course, but I guess my brain did sort of get rewired.” He tilted his head back against the overhead cupboards, looking at the ceiling fan.

Zim watched the human before he cleared his throat, causing him to start and look at him. “Yes well, as fascinating a this is, I would like to find my ship.”

“Uh, I told you it blew up, remember?”

“Even if that did happen, there would be something salvageable.” Zim hopped down from his stool and placed his hands on his hips, facing away from Dib but hearing his feet touch the floor as he slid from his own seat. “I wouldn’t be able to disguise myself otherwise.”

Dib tapped his chin before he tilted his head. “Fine, fine, but if nothing is, I think I know of something else.”

The Irken turned to look at him, grimacing. “You don’t mean...”

“I think Dad put Tak’s ship in one of our storage units after I stopped my investigations...”

Zim crossed his forearms, hissing. “No! No, absolutely n...”

\---

Zim sighed, looking rather deadpanned as Dib opened the unit up with his keys, lifting the roller door. He wore one of Dib’s old hoodies over his invader uniform, eyes covered by a pair of kids sunglasses that were enough to deter the average human from questioning his eyes. The return to the crash site had dug up nothing, not even a microchip of technology, so as much as he hated it, they’d had to resort to plan B.

Ugh.

“Been a while since I’ve been here,” Dib commented, reaching up to tug at the light switch and turn it on. It didn’t do much good, much of the unit covered in shadow still, boxes and boxes of things piled up on top of each other to a dangerous point. “Dad started moving stuff here when it was clear Gaz and I were outgrowing childhood interests. I mean, she never really outgrew video games but where was she going to store her old consoles?”

Zim noticed one of the boxes had a big KEEP OUT DIB sign and a pig face drawn on it, shuddering and stepping into the storage unit after him. GIR has been told to stay at the apartment once it was clear that he couldn’t be concealed, and his legs hurt from being cramped up in the Dib-beast’s bike basket, but that had been the only feasible mode of transportation if they wanted to avoid public transport. “And you think it’s here?”

“Wouldn’t surprise me.” Dib moved some boxes aside, humming under his breath before leaving one on the floor. “Check that out later, there might be some of my old clothes that you can fit into.” He stepped in further, going over the box. “I had a garage filled with trophies from our battles,” he added with a shrug, then lifted a hand to rub his head. “Jeez I was obsessive as a kid. Guess I owe my therapist an apology on that note.” Dib cleared his throat, and clicked on another light in the far back of the container. “Anyway, here.”

Zim managed to avoid tripping over the leftover box and nearly stumbled into Dib’s legs when he stopped, taking a few steps back. Dib was standing in front of a tarp covering something large, and he reached forward to drag it off, revealing Tak’s ship. It was broken, having never been repaired after the Florpus, if only because the onboard AI wouldn’t let Dib touch it, but it was still rather intact. Looking up, he noticed that Dib had stepped to the side and was looking at him with a raised eyebrow, gesturing for him to go on.

He inhaled before letting it out. “It has...been a while,” Zim confessed, tugging at his gloves before he stepped forward and up to the ship, pushing the screen up and out of the way before the very last bit shattered in his grasp, causing him to jerk back. “It’s been a while for the ship too apparently.”

“It only helped us because it hated you more,” Dib said, leaning back in a fold up chair that he’d found. “And after you left I guess I forgot about it.”

“Yes, well...” Zim trailed off as he hefted himself into the ship, practically tumbling in and then sat himself in the pilot’s seat, beginning to fiddle. “This technology is very outdated, even before Tak showed her face. Irk made several upgrades since this ship was first operational.”

“Just how different is Irk technology compared to Earth?” Dib asked, if only to keep the conversation going while he wasn’t doing anything but fiddle with his phone. Though even then he didn’t have reception this far into the container, even with the leap in phone technology over the years. “I was never able to find anything even remotely like the stuff on board.”

“Light years from Earth technology.” Zim almost sneered before he shook his head, going back to what he was doing. “It would take at least two, three hundred years for you humans to even catch up to the Empire.”

“I figured.” Dib sighed and twirled his phone around in his fingers, leaning back in his seat languidly. “Guess she’ll remain broken.”

Zim gave a triumphant noise as he pulled himself up from where he was fiddling under the console. “Hah! That fool didn’t take everything with her when she left the first time. There’s another holographic device in her glove box.”

“Wait, Irk ships have those?” Dib drew himself up and strode over, leaning in to look as Zim pulled several things out from the compartment.

“Of course, what are we supposed to store things in?” Zim raised a brow at the human and jumped out of the other side of the ship, tossing the other things back into the pilot’s seat. Attaching the device to his wrist much like a watch, the both of them nearly jumped when it worked, displaying an image in front of them. “Primitive, but it will have to do.”

“You call this primitive?” Dib muttered under his breath as he slid his hands into his jacket pockets, looking perplexed as though he wanted to look at it for himself. He watched Zim cycle through selections, as though he was making a character in an MMORPG. “Did you do this when you first came to Earth?”

“Well yes, but my disguise was infinitely better than Tak’s.”

“You covered your head with a wig and wore contacts,” he said with a deadpanned voice and expression on his face. “You only fooled everyone because the rest of the world is full of morons.”

“You lie!” Zim gritted his teeth and pressed the surface of the watch, shivering when the hologram went over him. “Ugh that feels nasty. Well, Dib-stink?” He turned to look at the human, pausing. “Dib?” He was staring at him, something that made him feel a little subconscious and he rubbed his elbow, scuffing his foot before stomping it. “Answer me!”

“Sorry, sorry!” Dib seemed to shake himself out of it and waved his hands, laughing a little nervously. “You...uh...you look good, Zim.” The praise made him almost look like he was preening and Dib filed that information away for later. And he wasn’t lying, Zim _did_ look good, but that might’ve been Dib’s own preferences shining through. He cleared his throat. “Anyway, if we’re done here, we should probably go get something to eat before we head back.”

“McMeaty’s.”

“Ew, seriously?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you guys thought this was worth the wait. I took a while bc I’ve been busy this week and only just now got the chance to sit down and finish writing the chapter out, and I start volunteer work next week so hopefully that won’t impact chapter release too much.
> 
> The whole age debacle doesn’t bother me, as with every word of god, we shouldn’t be taking JV’s word seriously (if we did that all the time it’d be like every time JKR tweeted something new), so I take it with a grain of salt. As stated in the tags of course, Dib is an adult here and perfectly capable of making his own decisions, and they’re in equal footing.
> 
> make of it what you will, but I hope that I can get the next chapter out soon before I’m too busy.
> 
> until next time, come chat with me @genderfluidib on tumblr


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dib gets some answers from Zim. Sort of.

It was another week or two before Zim was willing to talk.

Dib had gone back to work in the labs at night like he’d said, usually flopping into his bed in the morning while barely kicking his shoes off. The entire experience of finding his childhood enemy in a crashed spaceship and fixing him up and taking care of him had him exhausted, far more than work did. He remembered his therapist saying something about emotional baggage or similar, and Dib guessed this was what he’d been talking about.

The knowledge that he wasn’t crazy was...a relief. A big one. Even as he was slowly getting used to Zim’s new holographic disguise, the thoughts that came through his head were “holy fuck it was real”.

He opened his apartment door, stifling a yawn with his hand and shrugged his jacket off, throwing it into a random corner as he shut the door, sliding the lock into place. Dib fished his keys and phone out of his pocket, walking over to the kitchen to place them on the counter and running his fingers through his hair before turning and letting out a shriek when he saw Zim standing there, GIR beside him. He groaned at the smirk on the alien’s face, palming his own in exhaustion. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” Zim asked innocently, tilting his head to the side as he shuffled into the kitchen. He had his hands on his hips, wearing one of Dib’s old shirts that seemed to drape down to his knees.

“You know what.” Dib pulled his glasses away from his face and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “It’s too early for this shit, Z...”

“I want to talk.” Dib paused and blinked, replacing his glasses and staring at the Irken like he’d grown a second head. At the confusion, Zim rolled his eyes and huffed, tapping his foot. “You asked me what happened, Dib-smelly, and...Zim is ready to talk about it.”

He cleared his throat when he seemed to get antsy, and Dib blinked at him again before raising his hands to placate him, running one through his hair. “Alright. Okay. Let me just...did you want a coffee or soda before we get started?”

Zim seemed to consider his options as he used GIR to help him get onto one of the kitchen stools, tapping his claws together. “Soda,” he finally said, nodding his head as Dib started the kettle for a coffee for himself, reaching up into the cupboard for the instant stuff instead of the fancy pod machine he had in the corner. While the kettle boiled, he grabbed a soda from the fridge and slid it Zim’s way along the kitchen island before taking the milk for his coffee, then turned to lean against the other bench as Zim tapped his claws around the can.

“You can start, I’m just waiting for my coffee.”

“N-no, no. Zim will wait. Z...” He reached to rub the back of his neck. “..._I_ want you to be comfortable.”

Dib noticed the change in the tone of voice, and the switch from third person to first, but he didn’t say anything about it. Huh. Maybe Zim had changed a bit too since he’d last seen him all those years ago. The kettle dinged and Dib turned to fill his cup, first with milk then with water, and placed the milk back in the fridge before Zim started speaking again. “How...much did I tell you before?”

“You said something about being reencoded,” Dib said, stirring his coffee and then turning to place it on the island bench, returning to his previous spot against the kitchen sink. “I didn’t get much out of you before you wanted to rest.”

Zim pursed his lips together as he snapped his soda can open, closing his eyes. “Being reencoded is...an Irken’s worst fears. It means that we did something wrong, or failed a mission put before us. I was put on trial for existence evaluation.”

“Existence evaluation?” Dib leaned forward and picked up his coffee, pulling back to take a sip of it, cradling his mug with his free hand. “What’s that, like...some kind of job exam or something?”

The alien laughed a little harshly at that, both of them ignoring GIR fetching himself some left over pizza and his own soda from the fridge, the door being kicked shut and the little robot humming as he moved himself into the den. “Hardly. The Control Brains determine whether or not you are worthy of continuing to exist as you are.” He looked down at his soda, fingering the tab. “Whether you deserve to be remembered by history or destroyed and your PAK’s data erased.”

It was a good thing that Dib had a hand under his mug otherwise it might have shattered to the floor, his eyes wide behind his glasses. The time when Zim’s PAK had attached itself to his chest was a blurry memory at best, but he remembered the overwhelming surge of another personality grappling with his own. “They actually..._do_ that?”

“Oh yes.” Zim nodded, sipping casually at his soda as if he wasn’t talking about his entire life being removed from his memory. “From smeethood our PAK is responsible for storing our knowledge and mission objectives. To be forgotten about is...”

“I think I get it.” Dib actually kind of understood that, he thought to himself as he sipped his coffee again, glancing off to the side. To be forgotten about without even having contributed anything would be devastating even to a human. He cleared his throat, tilting his head as Zim looked at him. “So you were reencoded?”

Zim shook his head, his antennae swaying. “They tried, but Zim’s personality was too great, even for the Control Brains.” He winced a little at the memory, tapping his fingers around the rim of his soda can as he took another swig. “I was...banished, again, but this time to the prison. GIR found me, I don’t know how.”

“When I found you he said you were going to be mad that he brought you here,” Dib said after a moment, lips pursed around his coffee mug before he took a gulp of the bitter stuff. Zim nodded, his hands around his can nearly crushing it between them. “I mean, I can understand. This is probably the most crapsack world in the universe.” Zim was silent for a good while as Dib finished his coffee, turning to put the mug into the sink behind him and then leaning back to cross his arms. “Do we need to worry about them coming after you?”

“I do not think so,” Zim said, leaning his chin on his hand. He looked...almost vacant, if Dib was honest, causing his eyebrows to crease. “They only came the first time because Zim forced the planet into the Massive’s path. Earth has no resources that they desire.” His shoulders hunched. “I deserve to be on this filthy planet.”

“Earth’s not that bad.” Dib paused before shrugging. “Okay, maybe it is that bad, but we’ve got wildlife I’m sure is nowhere else in the universe. Sometimes I just like going out to the forest on weekends because it’s...I don’t know...calming? Pretty?” He scratched the back of his neck, then snapped his fingers. “That’s what we’re doing this weekend.”

“Eh?” Zim raised an eyebrow at Dib. “What are you squealing about now, human?”

“We’re gonna look for Bigfoot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh yes, Dib, such a relaxing time you’re going to have I’m sure
> 
> sorry for such a short chapter this time but I couldn’t remember where this was going (after leaving it for like five days) other than leading into the next one, so into the next one it is! see you guys then!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A-squatchin’ we will go, a-squatchin’ we will go. And if we run into Bigfoot we will piss ourselves and run.

“What is that awful stink?”

Zim waved his hand in front of his face as he trailed up behind Dib, dressed warmly in one of the human’s old hoodies, shirts and jeans. Dib had taken off ahead of him, weaving along the trail with their pack on his back and a big grin on his face as he held onto the straps. He stopped at the question, turning to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

“That’s fresh air.”

“It smells disgusting.”

“Well yeah, there’s probably some shit and rotting carcasses around somewhere,” Dib responded, reaching to scratch the back of his neck as he waited for Zim to catch up to him. “But that’s the great outdoors for you.” He turned his head to look out at the lake, his black and blue flannel jacket wrapped around his waist due to the warmth. “I started coming out here a few years ago, I guess to get away from things that reminded me of you.” He didn’t notice Zim’s expression at that, and when he did turn back to look at the Irken, his mouth was pursed in a thin line, offering him a small smile. “It helped me. It might help you.”

“Very well.” Zim stood straight as he reached the step below Dib, crossing his arms over his chest. “I will give this...nature a try, but do we have to search for your Bigfeets?”

“It’s Bigfoot, and no, not really. I left a trail cam out here months ago and I want to see what footage it got.” Dib started off again, this time heading away from the trail and earning a frustrated look from the alien. “You can probably take off your disguise if you want. We’re a fair click away from any human contact. Wait here.”

Zim paused before he brought his wrist up and clicked the watch-type device that contained his hologram. It was hardly Tak’s anymore, as he had been messing around with it on and off since they had retrieved it from the Membrane’s storage unit. They had now been walking for an hour or so since parking their car, just the two of them due to having left GIR with Gaz for the weekend, following along the river line just beyond the trees below the trail, and the deeper they got, the more Zim found himself relaxing, as hard as it was to believe. “Maybe the Dib is right,” he mumbled to himself as he switched his hologram off, shaking his antenna along with the rest of his body.

The sound of sliding earth made him twist around to see Dib land on the trail next to him with a skid, cheeks pink and a grin on his face as he made the landing. “What was that?” he asked, air coming from his mouth in a puff of frost.

“I said there’s a surprising lack of filthy mosquitos around here.”

“Well yeah, it’s the middle of autumn. Most bugs die during this time.” Dib held the device in his hands up to show it off, then turned it around in his grasp. It looked a little beaten up, though he still beamed with pride. “Found my trail cam. A little lower than I left it but hopefully it could see the structure.”

“Structure?”

“Mmm!” Dib nodded enthusiastically as he began leading them along the trail again, fumbling with the camera for the memory drive. “There’s a few of them along this point, you’ll see them. Big long logs torn up and put into a triangle shape. I found some indents in the moss up there that were bigger than the average footprint.”

Zim tilted his head, looking a bit confused, before he looked out across to the river. Dib had attempted to show him a few Bigfoot documentaries before their trip but to be honest, the subject bored Zim. He had seen creatures bigger than a hairy monkey across the galaxy. “What makes this Bugfoot so special?” he asked, tone almost soft as he glanced back at the human, who stilled a little, the camera going slack in his grasp.

“...I had to concentrate on something after you left,” he finally said, stepping forward along the path and crunching leaves under his boots. “My therapist suggested focusing on something less paranormal, like yoga or meditation, but I...I was happy just researching. It wasn’t even just about knowing that we weren’t alone in the universe, it was more...” Dib stopped and tilted his head to look up as a bird screeched overhead. “It gave me focus. Sure, I could’ve researched El Chupacabra or Mothman, or any other number of subjects, but Bigfoot has been recorded in Native mythologies hundreds of years old, before the Patterson-Gimlin film...”

Zim began to tune Dib out when he started rambling, watching the human attach his trail camera to his pack belt as they continued inward, grunting a bit as though to assert his agreement. Dib slowly stopped, his hands dropping once again to the pack straps as he lowered his head with a morose chuckle. “I really do sound crazy, huh?”

”No worse than any Irken scientist, I can assure you,” Zim said with a casual shrug, not liking how Dib’s shoulders fell. He tilted his head, reaching out to take hold of Dib’s jacket when the human kept walking ahead of him, looking at the small curve slightly ahead of them. “Perhaps we should stop here before we get too further in, Dib-worm.”

“Yeah.” Dib cleared his throat as he clicked the belt around his waist and began shrugging off their equipment, walking over to it. “Here’s good.”

Besides which, the sun was starting to set. Standing there in the middle of the wilderness far from civilisation, Zim felt something clench in his spooch as he watched it while Dib set up their camp, making what he called a lean-to against the side of the trail opposite the curve between two trees. A fire was lit as the very last dredges of the sun went down.

And then the stars came out.

Zim felt his eyes widen as he stared up, his antenna dropping against his head in surprise, now sitting beside Dib as the human tended to their fire, reheating some pre-made food in a pan. Glancing at the alien, Dib smiled as he adjusted his grip and flipped the food around, not wanting to disturb Zim’s awe with useless babbling. It wasn’t anything that Dib hadn’t seen before, so he concentrated on their food and let him enjoy the sight of the Milky Way coming out. Finally, he dished up their meal and came to sit down beside Zim, handing one to him. “I can tell you our names for constellations if you’d like,” he said, his voice causing Zim to jump and turn his head to look at him, making Dib give him a sheepish smile. “I mean, you probably have cooler ones in Irken or whatever.”

“I...” Zim cleared his throat when he found it suddenly clogged, swallowing and taking hold of the bowl and fork offered to him, looking back up. “N-no. I think I’d like that.” Dib nodded and scooted a little closer, leaning shoulder to shoulder as he began pointing stars out, the fire crackling behind them as the night drew on.

They retired to the lean-to close to midnight, Zim still wide awake next to him under the blanket that they’d brought along, due to Irkens apparently not needing sleep. Dib, on the other hand, had his phone out and was going through his trail cam footage, the light of the screen low so as not to disturb Zim’s stargazing. He sat, the top of the lean-to tarp rubbing against his lightning-shaped quiff and legs crossed, though he honestly looked close to falling asleep sitting up.

“Go to sleep, Dib-stink,” Zim grumbled, prodding him in the elbow with a claw.

“In a minute.” Even as he said this, Dib yawned and raised a hand to rub at one eye beneath his glasses, jarring them as he sighed. “I guess you’re right. Nothing on this footage but hours of birds and pine martens and squirrels...” He jolted upright all of a sudden, startling Zim next to him who jerked to the side and glared at him. “Holy shit!”

“What?!” Zim barked, pulling the blanket with him as he sat up next to Dib, whose face took on a frightening look in the low light of his phone. “What is it?!”

“My footage just...jumped three days,” he stammered out, glasses lens shining due to the reflection. Dib let out another exclamation, grabbing hold of Zim’s arm and tugging him in his direction. “Look!” His thumb paused the footage, shoving it into Zim’s face and causing the alien to pull back again before he reached to take it, antennae quirked in a worried expression. “Look,” Dib whispered again, drawing Zim’s attention to the screen and...

“It’s an arm,” he deadpanned, using his thumbs to zoom in and squint at the screen in the dark, receiving a shake of the head from the human.

“See...see the outline.” Dib used a forefinger to point it out, and Zim realised without looking at him that he was shaking. “It’s...that clearly looks like hair. Or fur.”

Zim tilted his head, glancing at Dib out the corner of his eye. His long-time rival looked awed, shocked, amazed all at once, his breath frosty and yeah, he was shaking pretty badly. He rearranged his legs under the blanket, looking at the footage again. It had been a long time since he’d seen a look on Dib’s face that even remotely reminded him of the child that had thwarted his every turn, reminiscent of autopsy table threats and glee at proof. “It could be a bear,” he said slowly, gently, passing the phone back to Dib and watching the expression falter slightly. “You’re tired, Dib-stink. Sleep. We can look at it more thoroughly in the morning.”

Dib’s bottom lip quivered before he straightened his shoulders, turning his phone off and running his fingers through his hair, glancing away. “You think I’m crazy too,” he finally said, taking his glasses off and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Dib, look who you’re talking to.” Hazel eyes glanced at him and Zim looked up at the sky to avoid looking at him. “I’m proof enough that you’re not crazy, aren’t I?” He raised his wrist, clicking the hologram on and finally looking at him with concern. “I don’t look like this.” Zim then clicked the hologram off again, his antenna wriggling on his head. “I look like this. Alien, to you and everyone else on this miserable rock. I’m more real than that Bootfeet.”

“Bigfoot.” The mumble was met with a glare before Dib’s shoulders slackened, a hand dropping to it as he sighed. “You’re right. You’re right. I’m exhausted. I carried our pack up here after driving us for fuck’s sake. I’m...seeing things. Bigfoot isn’t real.”

Zim gave his hand a squeeze and opened his mouth to say something when the sudden, loud noise of one of the trees their lean-to sat between crashed to the ground, causing the both of them to jump. Zim was barely able to get a noise past his throat before Dib clamped a hand down on his mouth, his eyes wide and looking out at their dying fire. Something shuffled past, a grunt and a whuff leaving it that made it sound like some kind of intergalactic beast Zim was sure would come to him later. Dib inhaled sharply, grappling for his phone at his side as he kept his other hand over Zim’s mouth.

It clattered to the ground under them and they suddenly found two bright eyes looking at them through the dark.

It roared.

Dib was the first one to shoot to his feet, grabbing his jacket which held his wallet and keys and taking hold of Zim’s wrist to pull him up and started sprinting down the trail, his heart pounding deep in his chest as Zim called out behind for him to slow down, but there was no fucking chance of that happening. The thumping footsteps behind them and the roars that came with informed him that the beast was following, and Dib took that moment to scream;

“Holy Mothman, it’s fucking _Bigfoot_!”

Zim had managed to climb onto his back by this point, wrenching himself from the human’s grasp and clung to his shoulders, leaning down to look at him over his head. “I thought we were after this creature?” he yelled over the inhuman yowls, watching Dib fumble with his phone before holding it up for him to take.

“Not like _this_! I don’t have any traps or any...fuck I left my _gun_ in the _car_ what kind of paranormal investigator _am I_?!” He tilted his head as he leaped over a fallen log that they’d passed in the daytime, landing on his feet and looking behind them to find Bigfoot close behind. “Try and get a clear photo!”

“If you would stop _running_ for just a _moment_, I could probably get one in a _dobosh_!” Zim snapped, locking his spider legs after they came out of his PAK around Dib’s underarms for balance and standing on his shoulders as he scampered down the trail that had taken them a couple of hours to climb.

“Uh, no thanks I don’t want to get eaten?” A rock flew past them and Dib let out an unmanly shriek as he turned his head to look at the Bigfoot chasing after them. “Hey man, not cool!”

“Got it!” Zim crowed after a minute, raising his fists in triumph. “Zim is victorious over you, Bigfeets, how does it feel to - AH!” Dib had chosen that moment to stumble and go tumbling head over heels and the phone to go flying out of Zim’s grasp, coming to a stop at the bottom of the trail near the car park. Both human and alien stopped to watch the phone fall to the ground, the screen cracking and falling off before Dib scooped up Zim into his hold again and sprinted to the car. “The phone!”

“I have my photos on backup to the cloud, it’ll be fine!” Dib shouted, grasping for his keys in his jacket pocket. A click and he was opening the door to shove Zim in, turning his head to see Bigfoot lumbering up behind them, nostrils flaring in the dark. Without a second thought, Dib slammed the door and locked it from the outside, dropping and kicking the keys under the car and away from the monster that reared up in front of him.

Holy shit it _was_ Bigfoot.

Yellow eyes peered at him through the dark as Zim screamed at him through the car window, fists banging on it as Dib smelt something similar to wet dog waft through his nose. Blood rushed to his ears, heart pounding still from the run of a two hour walk in something like fifty minutes, knees scraped and bleeding through his pyjama pants. A large hand picked him up by the scruff of his nightshirt, callouses grazing his skin and feeling strangely human flesh graze back. Teeth bared, the Bigfoot roared in his face, spittle splattering against his glasses and cheeks and ew was that some in his mouth? It was deafening, and Dib would admit to himself later that he peed himself a little.

The monster then dropped him, turned...

...and walked right back into the forest, disappearing into the woods with only the light of the moon showing where he’d gone.

“...Dib? Dib?!”

Dib must have blacked out for a moment because the next thing he knew Zim was shaking him awake, ears ringing from the roar, and it was sunrise, the alien once again in human guise as sunlight flooded the parking lot. Though, even the hologram couldn’t disguise the pink blood and Dib tilted his head back to look and see the car window smashed and pink on the jagged edges. If he didn’t know better, he would’ve thought the space bug looked...scared.

“Dib. Say something,” he said, voice shaking as he clutched the nightshirt with smaller fists than the creature that had shoved him against the car and screeched in his ear.

Dib licked his lips, mouth dry. “Did...did that actually happen?”

Zim looked at him with a raised eyebrow before he pulled back, looking a little insulted. “Of course it did, you moron. I didn’t just spend _hours_ of your Earth time trying to get out of the car _ that you locked me in!”_

“Holy Mothman,” he breathed, chest heaving before he coughed slightly and struggled to his feet. “Holy Mothman? Holy fucking _Bigfoot_!” Dib let out a relieved laugh, looking down at his hands. “He’s real! He’s real and I...I have proof! I can’t wait to show the BFRO and shove it in their faces that...” The look from Zim snapped him back to reality somehow, remembering what they’d talked about in soft voices before the incident. The look in Dib’s eyes faded somewhat, running a had through his hair as he leaned up and sighed. “We’re not releasing it, are we?” 

“I told you before, Dib-stink,” Zim spat, jabbing his finger in Dib’s chest as he stepped forward, a deep frown on his face. “I’m the only proof you need.” 

“You’re right.” Dib turned his head to look at the damage to the car, whistling. “Gretchen’s going to be pissed.” 

“You shouldn’t have locked me in there then.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly the only valid Bigfoot Hunter is Goofy Goof.

**Author's Note:**

> come chat with me over @genderfluidib on tumblr


End file.
